Amélie NothombLiterary Fiction · Contemporary Literature·b. 1966
Tuer le père
Synopsis
In a Nevada gaming room, a neglected teenager named Joe Whip crosses paths with Norman Terence, a magnetic card sharp who takes him under his wing and teaches him the art of the perfect bluff.
From Reno to the fictional Burning Rock festival to the underground card dens of Paris, Joe rises through the world of professional magic and card trickery — until the bond between student and adoptive father curdles into a late Oedipal confrontation.
Nothomb frames the entire story as a told tale, with herself as a framing narrator who encounters two strangers in a card room and demands an explanation. A novel about the psychology of mentorship, the violence latent in gratitude, and what it means to be better than the person who made you. Published in 2011.
The title alludes directly to Freud's theory of the Oedipal complex — the son must 'kill the father' to become independent.
How it reads
Prose complexity 2/10
Content warnings (1)
Violence